The Downsides of Growing Up Potter
by MelanyPotter
Summary: Albus Severus is growing up and is learning the ups and mostly downs of growing up as a Potter. He’s planning on finally coming out to his best friend/crush Scorpius Malfoy, but has many things to do before reaching that point.


Hey. I'm Albus Severus Potter, but my friends call me Al. Okay only my cousin Rose calls me Al, I don't really have any friends. Well...not any that actually want to be my friends for who I am. You see, my dad is Harry Potter, "the boy who lived". He's been in the spotlight since the tender age of 11. My mom, Ginny Potter Weasley, was a world famous Quidditch player for the Holyhead Harpies and now she works for the Daily Prophet. Heck, even my uncles and aunts are famous for one thing or another! I come from a pretty cool family, but that comes with some negatives as well. Everyone thinks that makes me cool and all, when in fact I'm probably the most introverted of the entire Weasley-Potter clan. I sometimes find it funny how different my brother and sister James and Lily are to me. I'd say they were dealt with all of the best qualities while I was left with...well, the crap hand I was dealt. I don't want you to pity me, because believe me, I get plenty of that from my family.

My parents don't want me to feel bad about myself and get into a depression while I'm away at Hogwarts and-

Oh crap! Hogwarts! I have to go pack for my seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It starts tomorrow and I haven't packed just yet. Oh boy, if Scorpius found out that I'm just now packing, he would completely freack out. Scorpius Malfoy is my best friend and my family get along just swell...well all except for his father, Draco. But that's more of an old school rivalry between him, my father, and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione. They all hate eachother. Dad even freaked when I first brought Scorpius over. They got over it though, well it was mainly my mom pushing for it since she just wanted me to make friends and didn't care care who it was with. At age 7, Scorpius and I had already pulled my family into a frenzy, so imagine what happended when we were both sorted into Slytherin our first year at Hogwarts. It's not like it was the first time a family was sorted into anything other than Gryffindor, many of our cousins had been sorted into Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, just never Slytherin like I had. To make matters worse, Rose and James, previously, had both been sorted into Gryffindor and Lily, oh sweet, precious Lily, was sorted into Ravenclaw, where she had to fend for herself with only our cousin Lucy by her side. You can see my 11 year old dilemma now, can't you. Anyways...where was I? Ah, yes, Scorpius.

He's probably the best friend I could ever ask for. You probably don't know this, but I've had a small crush on Scorpius for awhile now. I think deep down I've always known I was different, it just took some time to realize it. It's not like I was lying to Scorpius by not telling him, everything is still new to me, so I'm still learning about myself in this new light. Plus, I don't want to tell him just yet since he is still experimenting around with his sexuality. Which I don't blame for, some people take more time. He'll date a girl for a month and then switch over to a guy for a few weeks, I guess the gender of his partner doesn't matter to him anymore. He really just likes the part where they get cosy in bed with each other. Now I know what you're thinking, eww that's weird to know that about your best mate. And to counter that I'll say, you don't know Scorpius. He likes to brag about every single one of his shags. He even kept a diary for a short time, but burned it eventually. I hate it when he does this. I've always held out hope that he'll learn that I've always been there for him and that maybe him and I could pursure something, but it doesn't work that way with him and I. He goes out and parties himself drunk and I go to pick him up afterwards. It was our weekly routine. And by now I've gotten used to the heartbreak that comes along with being best friends with the heartbreaker themselves. You must be asking what qualities attract people, including myself, to a young man such as Scorpius Malfoy. And to that I must answer, I have no bloody clue myself what attracts me so badly much to him. He's charminging and attractive and kind, but what makes him so intoxicating is a mystery to every single person that falls under his spell.

I continue to wonder this while I finish packing. My mother walks in, she's looking me up and down as I try to close up my bloody stubborn trunk that I've used since third year. She only comes over to help me close it when I fall on the floor after a fatal attempt. "Al...do you think maybe this will be your year?" She doesn't have to look me directly in the eye for me to know exactly what she means. You see, my mom is the only person I've come out to, she's very comfortable with me and she's open to everything the world has to offer. There's been times when I wonder how my father got to be so lucky, but I always stop myself from asking my mother. She says he's the love of her life and she is his, nothing could change that.

I finally choose to answer her, I put on a brave face and say, "I hope so." It's a simple response, but she still manages to frown at it. "Albus, maybe you should stop waiting for something to happen and **make** something happen. Tell him how you feel, what's the worst thing that could happen? I mean we all know he is not homophobic!" We share a small chuckle before I respond with, "I'm afraid of losing him, what if he just wants me around to have someone normal around." Mom gave me a cheeky grin before replying, "Oh honey, we all know you're not normal, far from it in fact." We both break out laughing before my father walks in. "What's so funny?", he asked, he a toothbrush in his mouth, so it came out more like 'was fo fhfhfhfh'. "Nothing", my mother replied with an air of nonchalance. She turned to wink at me before walking up to my dad to gove him a kiss. "Eww, gross. Can't you two ever _not_ suck face right in front of everyone?", Lily said as she appeared around the corner. They just kissed longer and, as Lily would say, "grosser". They stopped kissing and went downstairs to talk about a new article mom needed to write.

Lily came into my room as soon as they were out of sight. "So, you excited bout going back?", she was always the nervous, worried one. Lily had made a reputation of herself at Hogwarts. She was known as a goody-two-shoes and a great role model for everyone at school. She was wicked smart and crazy competitive. If it wasn't for her flaming red hair and pale white complexion, most would confuse her personality with a muggleborn. She was very tech savy and has been working with an on the verge of retiring Headmistress McGonagall, to put computers into every classroom. I'm not sure all of the parents would be too happy to let their kids get rid of such old school, traditional ways that Hogwarts was known for in their time. I realized soon enough I hadn't actually answered her question. "Of course I'm excited. Maybe less than usual though.", I responded truthfully. She looked around at my room, the second she was done, she left abruptly. I looked around my room, too. Then I spotted it. Right next to my trunk on the other side hidden from the position where my parents had been a few short minutes ago...was a gay porno. Oh crap, I'm screwed! If Lily knew, James shortly would find out, too. It's not that she would tell him, it's just how things worked, James was really slow on catching onto things..,and yet he was an incredible Quidditch seeker.

Surely enough, after I picked it up into my hands, James walked in and spit out his water. "Bloody hell, you're gay?", he yelled. I blushed a ferocious scarlet red. As soon as he saw my reaction, he was quick to explain, "Not that there's anything wrong being gay, I just...I just thought that was something you would want to tell us yourself.", he had a sad, disappointed look on his face. I was quick to react, "It's not exactly something I want to shout off the rooftops of a crazy rave party! It's not something you out and straight out tell your conservative family who may see you differently afterwards!", I knew if I dwelled too long on it, I would start to cry right in front of James. "Dude, do you even know our family? We have some of the most open minded, nice people in it. No one will judge you, so don't even worry about that.", then he did something I never expected him to have in his willpower, he hugged me. I was so in shock that I blurted out,"But I thought-", I didn't get to finish before he had covered my mouth and continued to say why I was stupid for thinking like that. We stayed like that before I pulled away with a small smile on my face. It was nice to see this side of James, maybe he would turn out just fine...heck, if he had a shot, so did I.

That's the day I decided I would tell my best friend that I'm in love with him. I'm done with lying about my sexuality and I'm done pretending that Scorpius is just my best friend. Because, whether I had the guts to tell him right this very second or not, I was going to tell my best friend that I love him and that I'm gay for him. But alll too suddenly something dawned on me, something that kept me in the closet around Scorpius for the next few months. What if Scorpius just wanted me around to help out and be his sidekick for life, what if me telling him this ruined our entire friendship? I have years worth of memories that could all be ruined by me revealing this to him. I was not about to lose Scorpius before I even had him. James left a few minutes later and I began to hatch my evil scheme. I am a Slytherin after all. ;)


End file.
